Design a Dropbox/Google Drive sync service
Quick Overview
This question evaluates proficiency in designing distributed file storage and synchronization systems, including scalability, data consistency and synchronization models, versioning and conflict resolution, access control, and efficient handling of large files.
Meta
Feb 25, 2026, 12:00 AM
Software Engineer
Onsite
System Design
1
0
Design a file storage and sync service like Dropbox/Google Drive.
Requirements:
- Upload/download files and folders.
- Sync changes across multiple devices.
- Support versioning and conflict resolution.
- Support sharing via links or with specific users.
- Efficiently handle large files (chunking/dedup desirable).
Out of scope: complex collaborative editing (Google Docs).
Solution
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